Public Safety committee  By reporting to Parliament...?

Public Safety committee  I don't think one report a year cuts it.

Public Safety committee  I think if you look at the system we have in place, “when” oversight bodies report is a crucial consideration. Take SIRC reports, for example. They actually come to the House six months after the last year. We could be talking about, in that report, something that happened 17 months or 18 months prior to that.

Public Safety committee  I think the Arar commission inquiry talked about the way in which oversight bodies talk to each other. It also talked about the need for additional review bodies. One of the questions I think you need to address is whether you go with what some people have called a “super SIRC” or with alternative and specific bodies that cover particular institutions.

Public Safety committee  Yes, I'd like to suggest that there should be an ability of Parliament to ask for things to happen, i.e., to ask the Auditor General to carry out certain types of reviews. The last one on accountability of intelligence and security organizations was done in 1996. It came as the result of discussions between the special committee and the Auditor General's staff.

Public Safety committee  It's not the only one, but it's the central emphasis. Reform of national security organizations happens very infrequently. Recommendations, in my experience, take a long time to surface. What I'm saying is that you need to be very careful in looking at this issue more broadly at this time, because there won't probably be another opportunity for several years.

Public Safety committee  Yes, indeed. Bill C-22 was in fact where I was going next. This would establish a committee of parliamentarians. Recently a former director of CSIS said that we should pass it and think about amending it later. I happen to disagree with that. I think we need to really address it and get it right, right now.

Public Safety committee  The central issue talks to something the minister said, that this is the British model. The bill was actually introduced pretty much in 2005, and that was, at the time, the British model. But the British have moved to a different form of legislation. As of 2013, and this is the central point, it is a committee of Parliament, albeit one established by statute.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. Why? There are two quintessential functions that Parliament provides that no other element of our system of government does—that is, the estimates, the passing of public funds to the workings of organizations; and the review of legislation and the introduction or adoption of new legislation.

Public Safety committee  I'm afraid it will take me five minutes. I think this is probably the essence of my presentation. Arguably in a democratic society two things should occur when governments want additional powers for national security agencies. First, they should make a case for why they are necessary.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank you and the committee for the opportunity to come here today. Given that every member of the committee comes from either Quebec or Ontario, coming to the other side of the country, in this case, is an important thing for you. I'd like to commend the Liberal government on two points.